(The first half of this post is semi-inspired by Ryan’s Around the Sphere posts. And, it may seem as if I’m “falling behind” in blogging this series, but no, I’m not at all late I mean, timeless posts are timeless right?, I’m just taking my time. It’s more fun that way too, no pressures~ I never really intended to be the fastest Skip Beat episode info provider, I just want to write about the series I love, and that’s that)

The Prelude

2 episodes in, and Skip Beat still does not disappoint! Some people, like Fuyumaiden, found some of the anime comical scenes not so funny, and though I somewhat agree with this, I still find myself laughing at those scenes It seems that the subbers are catching up on this quick (or should I say, Chihiro fansubs caught up, and I sure hope ureshii-fansubs will too!), and quite a number of bloggers are covering it too, from traps, to tsunderes, among other fangirls, and new converts. I’m still hoping Ten and Sasa would write about their thoughts on the series, I know they’re two of the biggest Skip Beat fans D: Though, there seems to be a lack of testosterone power in the Skip Beat blogging scene (no, Impz is not counted). Glad to see more guys are getting into this show, Bateszi, ghostlightning, and Owen, in particular. With these guys joining in the Skip Beat bandwagon (and hopefully, many more to come?), I’m pretty positive that we’ll see an influx of editorial posts for Skip Beat sooner or later.

There are so many things you can write/discuss about Skip Beat, and right now, that “Skip Beat analysis power” remains untapped (it’s only semi-tapped, then again it’s probably because we have yet to see the more awesome parts of the series?). With the more popular blogs out there churning out summaries for this series, what would make your personality shine are your personal insights on the show, your opinions, how you empathize with the characters and all that. I’m hoping that more people will discover this whole “Skip Beat community” in the sphere, raise points about the series, or agree/disagree on points raised by other people, to make this adventure all the more worthwhile. Surely you can do better than just fangirl and go “kyaa!” right? right? Well, you make the choice.

Anyways, despite how I proclaim Skip Beat to be totally awesome, there’s bound to be skeptics and naysayers (as always), like those labeled this as ”yet another shoujo”, when they only watched episode 1! Let me tell you now, Skip Beat is NOT shoujo at all, it’s MANLY and GAR. Bateszi has very well said that this is reminiscent of a typical Shounen Jump series, boasting GAR SHOWBIZ ACTION instead of the usual testosterone-filled way of exerting MANLINESS.

Sadly, blissmo and Hynavian aren’t really hooked on the initial premise either, despite how manga fans are screaming on top of their lungs “You ain’t seen nothing yet!!” I can only hope the later KICKASS episodes will change their minds, though given that they already gave up following the show as early as this, I doubt they’ll be there to join in the fun =/

Le Sigh. Don’t let your bias against shoujo drive you away from this show, please. And don’t ever think that your anime ESP powers are so great, because if you dropped this show thinking that you’ve seen it all, I say your powers are EPIC FAIL >=( Only those who have read the manga have the right to say that this is “predictable”, because they would’ve read many volumes by now and probably hooked already Well, if you guys remain unconvinced to watch this, then I’ll humbly accept that not all people are able to appreciate a GREAT SHOUJO series and continue to fangirl over it, nothing lost ^_^v

I’ll be looking forward to the day Skip Beat skippers / naysayers realize how foolish they were for overlooking this true gem of a shoujo series, simply because they’re bias against anything “shoujo”! Kyoko will be sitting on her Ojou-sama Throne, awaiting that moment, ohohoho~

*cough*

Anyways, my episodic summary-ing persona seems to be at full throttle with this anime (that rarely happens now, it seems), so as long as I can keep this up, sorry to say but you’ll see me churn out these loooongg tl;dr episodic posts for as long as the Skip Beat anime is airing, personalized with a lot of random side comments of course. I’ll probably have some of the ‘life lessons’ embedded within this post, and will just “transfer” them to a proper “Life Lesson” post once I get to compile them after a few eps, we’ll see.

Corn!!

Oh, and since I never mentioned much about the OP and ED theme last time, I guess I’ll take this chance to say a few words. Well, I love them both! I’m easily attracted to upbeat and catchy songs, so I immediately got hooked with the OP song Dream Star. It’s brimming with energy, like the show itself! YoU of TheAkiba (one of the few guys blogging this episodically, albeit not as enthusiastically like Impz lol) thinks so too, and most people who watch the anime, I presume.

The ED song Namida was just as great, even better than the OP song actually. It has this SEAMO-esque feel to it, which I totally dig. Others find it reminiscent of Sunset Swish, but since I haven’t heard any of their songs, I can’t comment much about this comparison. The music and the lyrics itself is very very uplifting. I didn’t pay attention to the lyrics all that much until now, and after having done so, I went BAWWW. The lyrics should be our “mantra”, as it talks about not losing hope, not giving up on our dreams despite hardships, trials and failures, and all that jazz. Love it.

So anyways, on to some random ramblings about this episode!

The Incoherent Mixed-up Episode 2 Summary / Thoughts

So after the Shou ditching from the last episode, Kyoko vows revenge and finally takes on the challenge of going into showbiz! The road to stardom is never easy, as Kyoko will soon realize. The Darumaya boss wasn’t so happy with her decision to be a carrot-top yankee because he’s always adored her austerity/simplicity, and it also makes Kyoko a sad puppy. Don’t worry ojisan, she’s still the same hardworking Kyoko, only that she’s now brimming with REVENGE now (and yeah, she’ll also change for the better later on). Don’t let the dye affect your perception of her!

Kyoko wanders about the city streets, hoping that someone would scout her into showbiz, which is quite stupid if you ask me. It kind of reminds me of the type of girls who simply sit and wait, hoping their prince charming would arrive at their doorstep, or that they just have to do a makeover and believe that Mr. Right will immediately come down from the heavens or something. Good thing Kyoko doesn’t fall under such a stereotype.

So some dude offers Kyoko cosmetics, for obvious reasons — he wants to help her get scouted! But since the mention of ‘cosmetics’ alone made her realize how much time she wasted by dedicating almost all her life to Shou, she goes “revenge mode” and freaks out the people on the streets who thought of her as a lunatic On the other hand, it goes to show that Kyoko doesn’t care about what people think of her, which means that she’s not putting up whatever façade and is showing her true colors. Way to go, SISTAH!

Shou on the other hand remains all calm, and thinks that there’s no way Kyoko would ever get into showbiz. Haha, you’re gonna eat your word sooner or later, Shoutarou! As Shouko-san has very well said, “girls are scary when they get angry”. And considering that Shou spent most of his life with the calm and super selfless / stupid Kyoko, obviously, he ain’t seen nothing yet — Kyoko’s full potential, that is. He was too busy thinking of himself and filling up his ego to know what Kyoko felt or what the desires of her heart really was (back when they were together); Kyoko, on the other hand, was too busy serving Shou to come into terms with her HONTOU no JIBUN during those times as well. Patience has its limits, and you get to see the person totally unmasked when he/she gets pissed. In a way, this kind of reminds me of Joker’s memorable line in The Dark Knight:

“…you see, in their last moments, people show you who they really are. So in a way, I know your friends better than you ever did.” –Joker

Before I stray away any further from Skip Beat, let’s move on. So Kyoko goes to LME, which, according to her “extensive” research, is THE agency to enter in order to be at par with Shou. But with nothing else but her drive for revenge — no passion to act, sing or dance — obviously, she’s totally unfit for showbiz. Or so that’s how it seems like at this point. She’s mistaken to be one of Ren’s stalkers, and gets dragged out of LME not long after, with Ren giving her a scolding for treating showbiz like a joke.

But of course, Kyoko won’t just give up her revenge plan because of this. Aside from spending 30,000 yen for her makeover (she sold her Shou stuff to fund that, but still, that’s quite a lot of bucks), there’s no better way to exact her revenge but to defeat Shou in showbiz. Resorting to murdering Shou (or amputating him or whatever “evil” means) would be far too morbid, unfair, disgraceful, and not to mention totally not worth making a shoujo manga/anime series out of. So yeah, Kyoko HAS to get into showbiz despite not knowing whatever talent she has! And that’s what’s gonna surprise you guys (who haven’t read the manga yet) sooner or later.

With no talent whatsoever to get herself into LME through conventional means, Kyoko makes use of her WILL POWER and ZEAL (not to mention ability to scare people out of their wits) to make Sawara-san surrender and allow her to enter the audition. There’s only a few days before the audition, which means that Kyoko is at the greatest disadvantage compared to the other participants, but still she takes up the challenge without any doubt. Sasuga Kyoko! What determination, but also what naivety! orz

Kyoko bumps into Ren, a meeting which once again turns into a mock-hostile banter (as expected). Ren sneers at her [seemingly futile] attempt to get into showbiz, and wonders just how far her revenge can get her into showbiz. Ren personally considers this a lame motivation, but finds it intriguing how Kyoko can possibly attain success, given that success in this industry goes by the usual recipe of “loving acting + skills and hardwork”. Kyoko gets to see a glimpse of Ren’s “dark mode” with this encounter, and could only wonder why Ren could hate her so much (This episode already gives hints as to why he is really ticked off about her).

So anyways, audition time finally comes (and Kyoko only had 3 days to prepare, yay?), and Kyoko gets all down and depressed at the sight of beautiful women with makeups orz. She thinks it puts her at a great disadvantage, and that it must part of Shou’s “curse” (what naïve thinking -___-). She gives him back the curse, while convincing herself that makeup is not what makes a person attractive (yes, that’s the right mindset!).

While Kyoko is concentrating on her voodoo doll activities, Kanae gets all pissed at the lurking little girl in the audition room, and gets even more agitated at the sight of plain-traditional-housewife-looking Kyoko, whom she regards as nothing but an eyesore and a disgrace to the competition. (I’d love to discuss more about Kyoko’s behavior towards the little girl, but I figured I’ll delve into that in another post, I hope).

The audition begins, and Kanae impresses the judges with her l33t memorization skillz, sealing her status as one of the strongest contenders in the competition. Kyoko leaves quite an impression on the judges as well, though in a not-so-flattering manner. I mean, revealing that you want to get into showbiz to surpass Sho, who’s supposedly from the _other_ agency?! *facepalm* Good thing the president is all eccentric and actually thinks there’s a dramatic flair or some deep meaning behind this motive of hers, when there really isn’t much (See, Kyoko’s pretty simple minded, and if ever there really is some deep meaning behind this, well, she hasn’t realized that when she joined this competition)

And finally, the time has come for Kyoko to showcase her talent…! The judges nearly fell off their chair at the sight of Kyoko fully equipped with a daikon and a knife! Mesmerized and utterly dumbfounded, unable to fathom whatsoever talent she’s going to show. As to whether this hell of a feat she’s going to perform will be her ticket to the next round, we’ll find out in the next episode (which I’m sure most, if not all, Skip Beat fans, have already watched by now)! We already know Kyoko’s gonna make it, but the question is, how will she make it?

Side notes:

The mysterious little girl…

Remember how most of the manga readers say that the author Yoshiki Nakamura is a genius (or praise her to the highest heights)? Well one the great reasons for that is how she skillfully crafted Skip Beat, employing foreshadowing every now and then, to keep viewers hanging at the edge of their seat, while giving enough hints to know that SOMETHING will happen. As such, you have to pay attention to the details in this show, the characters whom you thought just popped out of nowhere, or what the other characters said that might actually hint as to who this surprise character is, and other upcoming plot developments.

Yoshiki Nakamura refers to previous chapters throughout the manga’s plot progression, that’s how cohesive and “tightly coupled” this series is. Oh, and another thing that most likely drew me into this series would be the streams of consciousness from the different characters, including the asshole that is Shoutarou. You get attached to the characters, as you get to know who they are, inside and out. You also hate the bitches who deserve to be hated.

Afterthoughts

I know Kyoko’s naivety and semi-stupidity might irk people off, but I find it really fun. It’s not like she’s a total dope, she just doesn’t know much about showbiz (and many things in life, which the series will delve into later) at this point. So despite how it’s seemingly stupid for a total noob like her gets into showbiz just to get revenge on the one who ruined her life, not knowing that the studio she wants to be part of is where Shou’s rival Ren is, it’s still understandable, justifiable, and well, fun!

Things in this series are quite over-the-top and just outright crazy at times, but it does remain logical within the confines of the series, just be sure to equip yourself with the power of Suspension of Disbelief ^TM for maximum enjoyment. Rest assured that when it comes to the real deep and serious issues, this series hits the nail hard and effectively invokes PATHOS. Down to the very core.

On a totally unrelated note, I’m not so happy with Lory Takada’s seiyuu… it’s like seeing Stresseman of Nodame Cantabile all over again, only this time it’s supposed to be… Lory .___. I can only hope I’ll get used to this, or that the anime Lory will grow on me so I can have a better impression of his seiyuu!

Some vocabs gathered from this episode:

This’ll pressure inspire me to memorize these kanjis/vocabs by heart…

俳優 haiyuu – actor
芸能人 geinoujin – artist
うろつく urotsuku – to wander about
業界 gyoukai – industry
コネ kone – connection
目障り mezawari – eyesore
鬱陶しい(うっとうしい) uttoushii – gloomy
就職活動 shuushokku katsudou – job hunting
新人発掘 shinjin hakkutsu – scouting for new talents

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